Summary

RICHLAND, WASHINGTON--The need to replenish constantly the nation's dwindling supply of tritium, an essential component of nuclear weapons, has caused Energy Department officials to study the feasibility of such multibillion-dollar solutions as a new reactor or a proton accelerator at its Savannah River facility in South Carolina. Now a third, far less expensive, idea has come to the fore--reviving a mothballed reactor at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state.